Update 2: The Daily News has identified the victim as 42-year old North Hollywood resident Cario Joseph Castaneda. The paper says he was riding west when he was struck by a private trash truck as he entered the intersection.

Other reports indicated the driver was traveling in the same direction, suggesting Castaneda may have been right hooked, possibly as he came off the sidewalk.

A comment from Alberto identifies Castaneda as his nephew, and says he was riding to work as he did every morning.

That street is totally commercial and there must be security cameras all the way down. I hope someone is canvassing for video footage right now. Video footage can get recorded over in short time. Do not rely on the police to do it!

I am so sorry for yours and your family’s loss Aleberto. I work in an office building across the street from where it happened and watched everything that happened all morning. Unfortunately i wasn’t there at the time of the accident. But We do have cameras and the police did come get footage.
I hope that whatever they find brings closure.

So sorry for your loss. My sister and I drove by the scene on our way to park for The Talk. We went by at 8:20 am…..and although we did not see any the accident…we saw the bike and the covered body. Saw the truck pulled over to the side. It was so, so sad. Said a prayer for the victim.
Praying that you get answers to the incident.

I actually crashed on my ride to work on this same day in Studio City, so to experience a crash and then here this awful news has had me rethinking my bike to work plans. So hard as you want to get healthy and then feel like you put yourself at such serious risk. I take mostly bike lanes too, but I crashed on Moorpark where there was no lane (slippery puddle, lost the front). Could have been bad, high traffic.

My questions is, does anyone know how best to fight for more/better bike lanes? What is the process?

Was very distressing to hear this awful news, feel awful for the family.

Hey Bob. I know it can be very distressing to hear something like this, especially on a day when you take a fall yourself; I hope you came out of it okay. The best way to keep yourself safe is to always obey traffic laws and ride defensively; if you do, you can dramatically decrease your risk of anything bad happening. If you’re not comfortable on the streets or sure of what you should do in any given situation, I’d recommend taking a bike safety course from the LACBC, Bike SGV or SavvyCycling (though I’m not sure the latter offers courses in the LA area; the nearest I’m aware of in in OC).

As for what you can do, the first step is to contact LADOT with your concerns and suggestions. Then I’d highly recommend joining the LACBC’s Bicycle Ambassador program for your area; they advocate for safer streets and work with local residents, businesses and community groups to get bikeways installed where they’re needed most.